Hurricane
by Supersilver46
Summary: Hermione Granger meets Harry at a young age, and witnesses firsthand how he's treated, she decides that if the adults are going to act like children, perhaps the children should act like adults.(Rewrite)
1. Chapter 1

"Okay Hermione, here we are!" Hermione's mother said as they drove to the playground, "Now remember to have fun!"

Hermione sighed as she put her book down and got out of the car. She hated going to the playground as she'd usually end up playing by herself most of the time, and she would rather read a book instead. But Her mother was usually firm on getting her to exercise, so there was no changing her mind.

The playground in question was rather dull, with a few swings and a slide being the only forms of enjoyment she could get. There weren't that many people here today either, two boys were playing together while their father slept on a bench. Hermione sighed again and went under the stairs leading to the slide to get away from the heat.

"Hello."

Hermione screamed as someone suddenly spoke. She turned around to see that a boy with ragged clothes and glasses was standing behind her.

"What is your problem? You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Hermione shouted.

"Sorry," The boy said, "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine," Hermione said after she looked at the boy for a brief few moments, "You look like you're sorry, so I forgive you."

"Thank you." The boy smiled.

"So what are you doing here?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, I'm just trying hide." The boy said.

"From who?" Hermione asked.

"Found you freak!" A large boy smirked as he looked at the boy with glasses, Hermione frowned at the word 'freak'.

"That's not very nice you know." Hermione said.

The large boy snorted, "Who cares what you think?" The large boy turned his attention back to the boy with glasses, "Anyway, we're going to start another round of Harry hunting, you'd better start running!"

The boy, who she assumed was named Harry, began to run away as the large boy cracked his knuckles.

"Excuse me," Hermione called out to the large boy, "What's 'Harry hunting?'"

"Oh, it's where we chase the freak down and beat him up," the large boy said.

"Why would you do something like that?" Hermione asked.

"Because he's a freak," The boy shrugged, as though it was that simple, "He deserves it anyway."

As the boy ran off into the woods, Hermione became resolved to tell the boy's father, who was probably still sleeping on the bench, about what his son was doing.

"Excuse me sir," Hermione said as she walked to the bench and shook the man's shoulder, "But I think your son is bullying someone, and he won't stop."

"Huh? Dudley wouldn't bully anyone," The man said as he rubbed his eyes, "Unless you're talking about my nephew..."

The man suddenly jolted in his seat and looked around the playground for the boys.

"Did you see where they went?" he asked her. Hermione pointed in the direction they had ran in, and soon the man stood up and marched into the woods before marching back out with Harry following him, the boy who was chasing him was walking with them as well, crying as loud as possible.

"This is why I don't take you anywhere boy," The man said to Harry, "You're nothing but trouble!"

"S-sorry Uncle Vernon..." Harry stuttered as he looked down at the ground.

"How dare you try and bully Dudley, did you think you could get away with it?" The man said, "And then you try to lie and say Dudley was bullying you instead?!"

The man then pointed at her, "That girl saw everything, and she made sure I knew exactly what you were doing."

Hermione felt sick as Harry stared at her, she couldn't tell what he was thinking but she quickly tried to explain herself.

"No sir, Harry was the one being bullied!" Hermione shouted, "Dudley was the one who-"

"It's okay." Harry said.

"What?"

"I should take responsibility for my own actions," Harry said, "I don't need you to try and lie for me."

"But I'm not-"

"Didn't you hear him girl?" The man asked, "There's no need to lie, at least he's being honest for once."

The man smirked, "I may lessen your punishment for your honesty, freak." The man then turned to the boy who was crying, "Let's go Dudley, go get Piers."

"Okay Dad," Dudley said, as the man then turned back to Harry to lecture him, Dudley bumped her shoulder and stuck his tongue out at her, and Hermione realized that his tears had been faked.

"See you, freak lover." Dudley whispered to her as he ran back into the forest.

Hermione stared at Harry, who was listening to his uncle rant at him. Harry noticed her staring at him and gave her a small smile before he turned back to his Uncle. Dudley soon came back with his friend, and the four of them left the park. As Hermione left the playground she went back to the car and climbed into the backseat.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Her mother asked her, "Why are you crying?"

Hermione told her mother about what had happened, and her mother frowned.

"I don't understand why he was like that to his nephew, calling him a freak," Hermione said as she wiped her eyes, "He didn't even ask his son if I was telling the truth."

"Well, Hermione there are some adults who aren't...nice people," Hermione's mother said, "Not every adult has the ability to act their age."

"Well those adults should learn how to act their age then." Hermione said.

"Some of them don't want to learn how," Hermione's mother said, "Anyway, are you ready to go home?"

"I guess..."

As they drove home, Hermione thinking started to change, at first, she had thought that all adults were responsible and mature people like her parents or her teachers. But what she had seen at the playground shattered that idea, if there were people like that man around, how many more adults were exactly like him? How many kids had to deal with the things Harry had to deal with? She wasn't really sure, but she knew that she was never going to become like that when she grew up...


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey loser, I thought you said you'd give me your lunch money today?"

"I-I don't have it..."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"H-hey what are you doing?!"

"Alright guys hold him still, I'm going to go through his stuff."

Hermione sighed as she watched a bully root through a student's things as his goons held the student against the wall. The fact that he was so brazenly doing this out in the open where anyone could see him spoke volumes about his confidence, or rather his cockiness.

"Well, well..." The bully said as he pulled money out of the boy's bag, "I thought you said you didn't have any money?"

"W-well I-"

"So you lied?" The bully said, "I really hate liars you know."

The bully then put the money in his pocket, and smirked. "Well then, looks like I'll have to punish you." he said as he cocked his fist.

"And I'd say that's enough!" Hermione said as she walked out into the hallway, holding a video camera.

"What do you want Granger?" The bully said.

"Oh, you should really smile more Collin," Hermione said, "You're on camera after all."

Collin snatched the camera out of Hermione's hand.

"Well say goodbye to your little camera." Collin said.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Hermione said. "Really I'd advise you against it."

"Like I care." Collin said.

"I'm warning you, you really don't want to break it..."

Collin stomped on her camera, breaking a piece off of it.

Hermione sighed, "Really I can't believe you broke it, that cost about 100 pounds."

"Aw, I'm so sorry," Collin said, "That a bookworm like you actually thought you could get me in trouble."

"Yeah you're right Collin," Hermione said, "You're much too smart for me."

"Of course I am, I don't understand how you even managed to be the top student," Collin said, "Considering you were stupid enough to try to stop me."

"Oh well, I guess I'll just leave then..." Hermione said. She turned around and opened one of the classroom doors. "You can come out now!"

"Huh?" Collin's eyes widened as their teacher came out from the classroom and frowned at Collin.

"I'm disappointed in you Collin," Hermione said, "You didn't even check to see if the camera was even real."

"What?"

"It's a toy you idiot." Hermione said as she reached into her bag, "This is the camera I used to record you stealing someone else's money."

Hermione turned to her teacher, "I have the cable to connect to the TV." she said, "I think you'll find it very useful to suspend Collin."

"Thank you Ms. Granger." Hermione's teacher said. "Collin, why don't you come with me to the principal's office, I'm sure he'd love to have a conversation with you."

As Collin was led down the hallway, he glared at Hermione as his goons followed him to the principal's office. Hermione smirked and turned to the student who was on the ground, "Hey are you okay?" she asked.

The student nodded before thanking her and left her to stand alone in the hallway...

…

Hermione realized a few things after that day on the playground, she realized that relying on adults to solve everything was a wrong way of thinking. If there were adults around that acted like Harry's uncle, she couldn't count on them for help...unless she had evidence. Adults preferred evidence, it was logical to them, and they would rather listen to logic that seemed concrete. And they would rather listen to a child who they trusted, rather than a child they didn't. It was why Harry's uncle hadn't believed her back at the playground, he trusted Dudley more than he did Harry or her. If she had proof at that time, she would have been able to show that it was Dudley who was responsible and prove that Harry was innocent.

Which is why she started carrying a video camera around with her, to record everything that could be used to prove something. Video evidence was something she found to be the most useful compared to photo evidence, as photos would have to develop while recording something allowed her to easily get the evidence she needed. She'd also bought a toy video camera, so she could confuse people like Collin into destroying it instead of her actual camera. The fact that it looked so similar to her actual camera helped as well, and she'd gotten rather creative at using it.

Hermione had gotten a bit of a reputation due to getting more than a handful of bullies suspended or expelled from school. People tended to either hate her, calling her a tattletale and a teacher's pet that was only into what she was doing for her own pride or for 'points'. There was the other part of the school that liked her, bet felt that she was overdoing it. Hermione honestly didn't care what people thought as her, if they were so concerned about her exposing people for their faults, then they were just as bad as the people she exposed.

As school ended, Hermione walked back to her home. When she opened the door, her mother greeted her and asked her how her day was going.

"Oh it was fine." Hermione said, "I ended up getting someone else in trouble today."

"Really?" Hermione's mother asked, "What did they do this time?"

"They were stealing someone else's money," Hermione said, "If I hadn't stepped in, he probably would have gotten violent."

"You could have gotten an adult to help." Hermione's mother said.

"I did." Hermione said.

"Did you ask them to wait in the classroom while you recorded what was going on?" Hermione's mother asked.

"Yes, in a way I still I asked an adult for help." Hermione said.

Hermione's mother sighed, "Hermione you should-"

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and Hermione looked at her mother.

"Should I open it?" Hermione asked.

"Hold on, I'll open it." Hermione's mother said as she opened the door, revealing an old woman dressed rather oddly.

"Hello," The woman said, "My name is Minerva McGonagall, I'd like to talk to your daughter."


	3. Chapter 3

"And... what would you like to talk to my daughter about?" Hermione's mother said, "I hope you aren't another one of those parents who want to try and charge her with a crime."

"A... crime?" Professor McGonagall looked confused as she stared at Hermione's mother.

"Usually they want to charge her with 'invasion of privacy', or some other misdemeanor," Hermione's mother said, "I know that she shouldn't manipulate things to her advantage but charging a child with a crime is a bit too much."

"I see..." Professor McGonagall said, "Well that's not what I came here for, I came here to tell your daughter that she is a witch."

"...So, you came here to insult her?" Hermione's mother frowned, "I think you should leave then."

"Wait I-"

Hermione's mother slammed the door shut and locked it tight.

"The nerve of some people..." Hermione's mother grumbled. "Don't they have anything better to do?"

"Considering how their kids act, it isn't a surprise to see that their parents act the same way," Hermione said.

"Don't think that we're done talking about what you did today," Hermione's mother said, "Give me your video cameras."

"Fine." Hermione fished around in her school bag and handed her mother her video cameras.

"Is that all of them?" Hermione's mother asked. "Are there more cameras in your bag?"

"That's all of them." Hermione said as she showed her mother her bag, "Those were the two that I had with me."

"How about the cameras in your room?" Hermione's mother asked, "Bring them down here."

"You already took those away last month, remember?" Hermione asked.

"Right, I've taken so many cameras from you..." Hermione's mother sighed, "Now that you don't have any cameras, you won't pull the same stunt you did today."

"Yes, I've learned my lesson." Hermione said, "I won't ever use the cameras I have here at home."

'I'll just use the ones I've hidden at school.' Hermione thought to herself.

There was a knock at the door, and Hermione's mother frowned.

"I hope that isn't that woman again." Hermione's mother said. "People like her always try to argue with me."

She opened the door and shouted, "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE!"

"Um, but aren't you the one who ordered the pizza?" The deliveryman looked confused, "This is the right address, so..."

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell at you." Hermione's mother said, "Here's the money, and a tip for the trouble I gave you."

"Thanks." The deliveryman said as he handed her the pizza and pocketed the £23 her mother had given him.

"He probably thinks that I'm crazy..." Hermione's mother said. "Anyway, let's set the table and wait until your father comes home."

.

.

.

After eating dinner and cleaning everything up, Hermione went up to her room and put her school things away. She sat at her desk and opened one of the drawers to take out a large phonebook and continue her nightly ritual. She flipped through the pages until she landed on the one that had names that started with the letter 'V'. She'd already marked out about half of the names on the list, and she hadn't been able to find Harry's Uncle. She knew that if she asked the man that was potentially Harry's uncle if Harry was with them, he'd probably lie. Which is why she stuck with asking 'Is Dudley there?' and 'Could I speak to Dudley?' since she thought that he wouldn't think twice about putting his son on the line.

The problem was that Dudley was a common name in Britain, and the Dudley's she had spoken to hadn't been the Dudley she knew. They'd all been confused whenever she brought up 'Harry hunting', one of them had been offended that she'd think he'd hunt his newborn brother. There was a chance that one of the Dudley's she had spoken to had been lying but given that some of them lived in completely different cities from her, she couldn't go and check for herself. Her parents also wouldn't be happy if she skipped school or left home alone to travel to another city.

So, she was stuck with slowly calling the numbers that were listed on the phonebook. She dialed one of the numbers she hadn't used yesterday. She tapped her finger on her desk as she waited for someone to pick up the phone.

" _Hello?"_ A man with a gruff voice said, _"Who is this?"_

...She recognized that voice. Even though the incident at the park had happened a few years ago, she still remembered the voice of Harry's uncle.

" _Hello?"_ Harry's uncle called ou _t, "...Is this a prank call? I'll have you know that-"_

"Oh, no I'm sorry I was just...looking for something I dropped." Hermione frantically said, "I was wondering...is Dudley there?"

" _Why do you want to talk to Dudley?"_ Harry's Uncle said _, "What's your name anyway?"_

"Hermione Granger." Hermione said.

"' _Hermione Granger'? Dudley's never mentioned you before."_ Harry's Uncle said.

"I'm a classmate of his," Hermione lied, "I wanted to ask him a question."

" _If you had to ask him a question, you should've done it at school."_ Harry's Uncle said _, "It's too late now, and Dudley's got to be up for his big day tomorrow."_

"His 'big day'? You mean his birthday?" Hermione guessed. "Dudley told me about it, he even invited me to his party."

" _He did?"_ Harry's Uncle asked _, "He never told us, anyway you know that tomorrow we'll be going to the zoo for his birthday."_

"Yes, he told me about that," Hermione said, "I forgot which Zoo he was talking about, was it the zoo in London?"

" _No, it's in Surrey,"_ Harry's Uncle said _, "He's excited about going to the reptile house."_

"I know, he wouldn't stop talking about it in class," Hermione said, "So what time do you want us to be at the zoo?"

" _Uh, sometime around nine AM,"_ Harry's Uncle said _, "We'll be there for the entire day."_

"Okay, we'll see you then." Hermione said as she hung up.

She couldn't help but smile as she circled the name 'Vernon Dursley' on the phonebook. It had taken her a while, but she'd finally found him. The next step would be to call Child Protection Services and send them to the address which was 4 Privet Drive.

The Dursley's would be in for a rude awakening.


	4. Chapter 4

Vernon Dursley was feeling good today, it was his son's birthday and they were planning on going to the zoo to celebrate. He sat in the dining room and watched as his son opened the presents he and Petunia had bought him, while the boy placed their breakfast on the table. He frowned when he saw that some of the bacon the boy had made was burned. Normally, he'd yell at the boy and force him to make a new batch of bacon, but he was in a good mood, so he decided to let it go and give the burned bacon to the boy to eat for breakfast.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and Dudley looked up from his plate of food.

"That's probably Piers," Dudley said, "He's a bit early though..."

"That's fine, Dudley," Petunia said, "He can eat breakfast with us before we go to the zoo."

"Boy, go make more bacon for Piers," Vernon said to the freak, "And don't burn the bacon this time."

"I won't burn it this time Uncle Vernon..." The boy said as he headed into the kitchen to make more bacon.

Vernon walked to the front door and opened it, "Hello Piers we're eating breakfast and-"

He paused in the middle of his words as he saw a neatly dressed man and woman standing on the front porch.

"Hello Mr. Dursley," The man said, "We're from Child Protection Service, we want to ask Harry a few questions."

"Questions?" Vernon felt his heart leap into his throat, as he struggled to come up with anything to say. "Why do you need to talk to him?"

"We had an anonymous source tip us off to your treatment of Harry," The woman said, "The source said that you've been neglecting and emotionally abusing your nephew."

"Oh...really?" Vernon said, "Well...that isn't true, I treat Harry as if he was my own son."

"Is that true?" The man asked.

"Yes." Vernon nodded his head.

"Well we know how you feel about your relationship with your nephew," The woman said, "But how about you let us talk to Harry, so we can see how he feels about you and your wife."

"No, I won't let you talk to him." Vernon said, "If you want to come into my home, you'd better have a warrant."

"Mr. Dursley-"

"Do you have a warrant?" Vernon cut the woman off, "If you don't, then get off my property otherwise I'll call the police."

"No, we don't have a warrant," The man said, "Mr. Dursley you realize that-"

"How dare you people think that I'm an abuser!" Vernon shouted, "Taking some anonymous tipster's words as 'fact', you should be ashamed of yourselves!"

"Mr. Dursley-"

"I'm only going to say this one last time, GET OFF MY PROPERTY!" Vernon shouted and slammed the door shut. He made sure to lock it tight before he rushed back to the dining room, where everyone seated at the table looked at him with wide eyes.

"You three, get out of the kitchen, _now_." Vernon said as he gritted his teeth.

"But I haven't finished eating!" Dudley whined.

"GET OUT NOW!" Vernon shouted as he dragged the three boys out of the kitchen and tossed them into the hall before closing the door.

"Vernon, who was that at the door?" Petunia asked.

"They were from Child Protection Services." Vernon said, "They got some anonymous tip about how we've been treating the boy."

"What?!"

"Be quiet!" Vernon hissed, "The boy's probably listening in as we speak."

"This is bad Vernon," Petunia said, "What are we going to do? If they talk to the boy then-"

"We won't let them," Vernon said, "They don't have a warrant, but they might come back with one."

"If they come back with a warrant then we won't have a choice but to let them talk to the boy!" Petunia said, "Maybe we could convince him to lie, if he does that then they won't have any choice but to leave us alone."

"But what if they talk to the neighbors?" Vernon asked, "We've already told them everything bad about the boy."

Petunia's eyes widened, "Vernon, what if they talk to Marge?!"

"Shit..."

Vernon knew that his sister hated the boy's very existence, if those two from Child Protection Services talked to her then...

"Okay, I'll call her and tell her what's happening," Vernon said, "Petunia, you go and deal with the neighbors."

"Right, how do you plan on convincing the boy to lie?"

"We'll give him Dudley's old bedroom, maybe give him a TV and one of Dudley's video game systems." Vernon said, "We'll have to make Dudley and his friends lie too, and we'll take the boy to the zoo with us."

"But that will ruin Dudley's birthday!" Petunia hissed.

"Trust me, I don't want to bring the boy with us, but leaving him here will be bad." Vernon said, "Figg can't look after him, and I don't want him to burn the house down, or for him to talk to those people from Child Protection Services."

Petunia bit her lips, and Vernon sighed.

"We'll have to put up with treating him better, at least for a few days." Vernon said, "Besides, if the boy is taken away, we won't have just Child Protection Services breathing down our necks."

"You're right." Petunia said, "Fine, let's just hope that he won't do anything too...unnatural once we get there."

Vernon hoped so too, if it happened then he'd probably snap. Vernon opened the door to the kitchen room to find that the three boys had been trying to listen in on his conversation. They sheepishly looked at him as they backed away from the door, and Vernon had to fight the urge to yell at them. He turned to Harry and frowned at him.

"Listen, get your things from the cupboard and move them into Dudley's old room," Vernon said, "After that, get ready because we're going to take you to the zoo."

"What?! But I don't want him to come with us!" Dudley whined, "And why does he get my old room, I still need to use it!"

"I'll explain it to you on the way to the zoo," Vernon said, "So for now, stop whining."

Dudley seemed to be shocked at his father's words, as Vernon had never spoken to him like that before. Vernon sighed; he'd have to spend more money than he wanted to, but it was necessary sacrifice that he would have to make...

.

.

.

Harry felt as though today was the best day of his life. He'd ended up getting his own room, a TV, and even one of Dudley's game consoles. His Aunt and Uncle were treating him decently for once, and they called him 'Harry' instead of 'boy' or 'freak'. They'd also brought him to the zoo, and had bought anything he asked for, which nearly caused Dudley to throw a fit in public. Harry knew the reason they were acting this way was because they were worried about the people who had shown up this morning, and he knew that as soon as the Dursley's felt like everything was safe they'd go back to their old habits. But for now, he was content with enjoying the few days that the Dursley's would treat him like a human being.

After lunch, they went to the reptile house, which had snakes of various shapes and sizes slithering behind the glass windows build into the walls. Dudley and Piers had gone from snake to snake, looking for the coolest one to see. Eventually, they found the largest snake that didn't seem in the mood to move around like the others, in fact it seemed to be asleep.

Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the snake, "Make it move," he whined at his father.

Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.

"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass with his knuckles, but the snake just continued to sleep. Dudley soon grew bored and wandered off to look at some other snakes. Harry walked up to the window and looked at the snake, which suddenly opened its eyes and winked at Harry. After that, Harry had started to talk to the snake, which seemed to understand him.

"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" Piers shouted from behind Harry.

Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.

"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs, knocking him to the floor. Harry thought that he heard something like a camera shutter snapping as the glass display suddenly vanished, causing almost everyone to panic and rush out of the reptile house as the snake thanked Harry for freeing him and slithered away. As the door to the reptile house slammed shut, Harry heard someone breathing heavily. He turned to see that Uncle Vernon's face had gone purple, and his fists were clenched in anger.

"I saw what you were doing," Uncle Vernon said, "Guess what, once those social workers leave us alone, you'll be going back to your cupboard."

Vernon took a step towards Harry, who took a step back in fright. He'd never seen his Uncle this angry before.

"I'll give you enough food to last you for a month," Vernon said, "I hoped you enjoyed being outside today, because tomorrow you won't see the sun for another month you freak!"

Vernon lunged towards Harry, who stumbled backwards in shock.

 _Click_

Vernon stopped his charge when a flash of light went off, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw a girl around Harry's age holding a camera.

"I'm going to guess that you're a bit camera shy Mr. Dursley?" the girl asked, "That's fine, I've already got your good side."

"Wha..."

"I'm sure that Child Protection Services will love to have this," the girl said as she took the photo out of the slot and waved it in the air, "Now they'll be able to build even more of a case against you."

"Listen, little girl how much do you want for that photo?" Uncle Vernon face paled as he looked at the photo, "Name your price, I can pay for it!"

"And you call yourself an adult..." the girl sighed, "Really, how low can you possibly go?"

"Give me the photo!" Uncle Vernon shouted as he ran towards the girl. She turned around and kicked the door open and took a deep breath before she screamed,

"Help! This pedophile's attacking me!"

In an instant, a few security guards who had come to capture the snake rushed into the room and tackled Uncle Vernon to the ground.

"Hey, get off of me!" Uncle Vernon shouted, "She's lying, I never touched her!"

"Yeah? Then why don't you wait until the police show up, you can clear it up with them." A security guard said, "Until then, you're not moving from this spot!"

"Hey," Harry blinked as the girl walked over to him and extended her hand out to him, "Do you need help getting up?"

"Thank you," Harry said as he took her hand and she helped him stand back up, "If it wasn't for you, he might've hit me."

"You don't need to thank me, I just did what any normal person would have done," the girl said, "Besides, I couldn't help you back then, so I'm glad that I could help you now."

"'Back then'?" Harry asked, "Have we met before?"

"We met a few years ago, at the playground, remember?" the girl asked.

Harry tried to think back, but he couldn't remember ever meeting the girl on a playground.

"It's fine if you don't," the girl said, "I got you in trouble that day, and I've regretted it for a long time now."

"Anyway, I think that introductions are in order," the girl said, "My name is Hermione, it's nice to see you again Harry."


	5. Chapter 5

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office filling out paperwork. Quirrell had returned from his yearlong sabbatical, and while he pretended to be his usual self, Dumbledore felt that something was... off about the young professor. Dumbledore wasn't sure if it was because the sabbatical had helped the professor gain the experience he had been looking for, but Quirrell seemed to have changed somewhat. He'd even asked Dumbledore if he could teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Dumbledore had given it to him since the previous DADA professor had left. Severus wasn't happy once Dumbledore had told him about Quirrell getting the position, but Dumbledore felt that it was better if Severus continued to teach potions.

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

"Come in," Dumbledore said as he continued to fill out paperwork. The door swung open and Professor McGonagall walked into his office.

"Minerva, I thought that you had gone to talk to a new student and her family," Dumbledore said, "Why are yo-"

Professor McGonagall tossed a newspaper onto Dumbledore's desk.

"What's this?" Dumbledore asked as he looked at the newspaper that Professor McGonagall had thrown on his desk.

 **Pedophile Vernon Dursley caught at a zoo in Surrey!**

The title of the newspaper immediately caught Dumbledore's eye, and he felt his mouth begin to dry.

"Minerva, where did you get this?" Dumbledore asked.

"When I went to the student's home, I found this on her front doorstep." Professor McGonagall said, "What was the last name of the family we left Harry Potter with?"

"It was Dursley." Dumbledore said as he looked at the man whose face was plastered on the front page of the newspaper.

"I thought so." Professor McGonagall said, "I've already read the article, I think you should read it as well."

Dumbledore turned the page on the newspaper and began to read.

 _United Kingdom, Surrey- It was a normal day for the visitors of the local surrey zoo, which is renowned for its 'Reptile House'. It would soon come to an end when a large boa constrictor escaped from the Reptile House, causing many of the visitors to flee for their lives. The Boa Constrictor was recaptured, and the zoo has publicly apologized for the incident. Normally, this would be where the story would end, but the boa constrictor's escape set the stage for the next act._

 _Just when everyone had been calmed, a young girl burst out of the Reptile House, screaming. One visitor who I interviewed clearly remembers her yelling,_ _"Help! This pedophile's attacking me!"_

 _Upon hearing her screams, the zoo's security guards rushed into the Reptile House and tackled the pedophile to the ground. The pedophile was held in the Reptile House for about an hour until the police arrived to take the man away._

 _Vernon Dursley(38) has been charged for attempted assault against a minor, and he is expected to be seen in court on the 25_ _th_ _of June. In addition, he and his wife are being charged for verbally and physically abusing his nephew, Harry Potter (10), and they are expected to be seen in court on the 26_ _th_ _of June. Depending on what the court decides, he may lose custody of his nephew..._

"I knew that leaving Harry with the Dursley's was a bad idea Albus," Professor McGonagall said, "For the past ten years, we've left him in the care of abusers and pedophiles."

"It was necessary for Harry's survival," Dumbledore said, "How were we to know-"

"If you had watched them, you would have realized what kind of people they were!" Professor McGonagall shouted, "I watched them on the day we left Harry with them, and I could tell that they were never going to treat him right."

"Minerva-"

"You insisted that Harry should have stayed with those people, that it was 'the perfect place' for him." Professor McGonagall said, "But after what's happened..."

Dumbledore sighed and slumped in his chair; he felt his age begin to catch up with him. He'd been solely focused on making sure that Harry was safe, the protection he'd placed on their home would have stopped any wizard that wanted to harm Harry, and in case Voldemort had decided to come back the wards would have held him off long enough for Dumbledore to deal with him. But he should've known that Voldemort wasn't the only one who could harm Harry.

"...What do we do now Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked, "Should we send someone to bring Harry here?"

"...We will have to wait until the trial is over before we can do that." Dumbledore said, "I imagine that the muggles would go into a frenzy if Harry suddenly disappeared."

"We'll have to follow the rules that the muggles have set if we want to take Harry from them," Dumbledore said, "That means that they will look for public records, so the best person to get Harry would be..."

"Albus you can't think that _Snape_ should get Harry," Professor McGonagall frowned, "He's the last person you should depend on, you know how he's like with children."

"I trust him Minerva," Dumbledore said, "Though he may not show it, out of all of us he is the one who cares the most about Harry."

"...Sometimes I don't understand you at all." Professor McGonagall said before she left Dumbledore's office in a huff.

Dumbledore sighed as he watched her go...

.

.

.

"Hermione are you sure that you want to do this?" Hermione's father said as they sat on a bench in the lobby of the Central London County Courthouse, "You know that you didn't have to testify in person, you could have-"

"It's already too late," Hermione said, "If I wanted to testify in an alternative way, we should've notified the court days ago."

"I know that, but..." Hermione's father sighed, "Dursley tried to attack you, you should be a bit nervous about having to see him in court."

"I'm a bit nervous, but if it means that he'll go to prison then I'll do whatever it takes," Hermione said, "Besides, I'm not just doing this for my sake."

"You're doing it for that boy too?" Hermione's father asked.

"Do you know that they made him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs?" Hermione asked, "They forced him in there whenever he did something 'wrong'."

"And Harry didn't see anything wrong with that, he thought it was _normal_." Hermione continued, "And when the social workers arrived, they gave him a room as way to stop him from talking, just to save themselves from going to prison."

"Hermione you-"

"Excuse me, Ms. Granger?" A bailiff opened the door to the courtroom and called out to Hermione, "Are you ready to testify?"

"Yes, I'm ready," Hermione said as she stood up and followed the bailiff into the courtroom. Once she walked into the courtroom, everyone in the jury turned to look at her as she made her way to the witness stand. The prosecutor that Hermione's parents had hired smiled at her as she took the stand, and she saw Dursley sitting with his defense attorney at the table across from the prosecutor's. Dursley glowered at her as the Judge cleared his throat.

"If you were fourteen, we would have had you sworn in," The Judge said, "Because you are only eleven years old, we will not have you make a commitment, please testify your experience to the court."

Hermione testified about how she had stayed behind in the Reptile House once the Boa Constrictor had escaped, how she witnessed Dursley attempt to strike Harry while he had thought that they were alone, how he had tried to grab her when he noticed her taking the photo...

Throughout her testimony, she could see Dursley tightly grip the table as his expression became stormy.

"Thank you for testifying," the Judge said, "The defense can now begin its cross-examination."

Vernon's defense attorney stood up from the table and walked over to Hermione.

"Ms. Granger, I can't help but notice that you left out the part where you called my client a pedophile," the defense attorney said, "Is there a reason for this?"

"It was the only thing I could think to say," Hermione said, "I was so scared that I thought that yelling that would get people's attention."

"So, you admit that my client is not a pedophile then?" The defense attorney said, "Young lady, you realize that the newspapers have been labeling my client a pedophile because of what you yelled, ruining his reputation."

"Well when he tried to grab me, he touched a bad place." Hermione said.

"Oh? And where did he touch you?" The defense attorney asked.

"I-I'd rather not say..."

"Why not? You said that you wanted to testify, so you should tell this court about everything that happened." The defense attorney said, "So tell us, where did he touch you?"

"I-"

"It's a simple question Ms. Granger," The defense attorney continued, "Where did he touch you? Did he even touch you at all?"

"Objection!" The prosecutor shouted, "Your Honor, the defense is badgering the witness!"

"Sustained." The judge said, "Defense, move onto another line of questioning."

The defense attorney frowned and asked Hermione another question, "Ms. Granger, why did you stay in the Reptile House when the snake escaped?"

"Someone bumped into me and I dropped my camera," Hermione said, "I wanted to get it before I left, and that's when I saw Mr. Dursley trying to attack his nephew."

"You prioritized finding your camera over escaping?" The defense attorney asked, "That wasn't wise, what if the snake attacked you?"

"Boa Constrictors don't attack unless they are provoked, and the Boa Constrictor that had escaped went outside." Hermione explained.

"Well you seem to be well versed with snakes." The defense attorney frowned, "For my last question, I want to know why you felt it was appropriate to take a photo of my client."

"He was attacking his nephew in a place where there weren't any people or cameras," Hermione said, "If I hadn't taken that picture, he would have found a way to cover up what he had done."

"Why would you worry about that?" The defense attorney said, "You should have gotten an adult, you shouldn't have tried to solve the problem by yourself."

"I couldn't just stand there and do nothing though," Hermione argued, "If I'd left without taking the photo, people would have believed whatever Dursley said instead of listening to me."

"You're quite self-righteous..." The defense attorney said under his breath before he cleared his throat and called out to the Judge, "Your Honor, I'm done cross-examining the witness."

"Alright, we'll have a ten-minute recess, and then the jury will pass their judgment." The judge slammed his gavel, and the courtroom began to empty...

"You did a great job out there Hermione," Hermione's father said as she entered the lobby, "I'm glad that you didn't breakdown when that attorney started to question you."

"Thank you," Hermione said, "Do you think that they'll give Dursley a guilty verdict?"

"After all that testimony and evidence stacked against him, I doubt that they'll let him off with a slap on the wrist." Hermione's father said, "And with how his attorney was acting, I don't think they'll be on Dursley's side."

"Hopefully nothing goes wrong," Hermione said, "If he gets a guilty verdict today, then he'll get a guilty verdict tomorrow too."

"That's what will probably happen." Hermione's father said, "So now we'll just have to wait until they hand out a verdict..."

A/N- Made some edits for some mistakes I made, I'm not one to ask for reviews, if you like this story you can review or favorite or follow it, but if you notice something wrong or something you like, don't hesitate to point it out.


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